All our lives are enriched by the leadership and excellence and confidence of female athletes, whether the Mia Hamm's and Maya Moore's we know or the field hockey, lacrosse and track and field athletes we do not necessarily know.

— George Vecsey

Athletes are used to battling. The public would never learn their names if professional athletes had not shown courage at an early age. They learn they can overcome, but sometimes this becomes a false sense of security that leads them to the edge.

— George Vecsey

Ball caps travel far and wide. They do far more than keep the sun out of your eyes or the cold off your head. Ball caps are a statement.

— George Vecsey

Hockey lends itself to special events, including the Olympic competition: a glorious tournament of the best players in the world, putting on their national jerseys and playing on big rinks with no-goon Olympic rules and referee enforcement.

— George Vecsey

Hockey suffers from being compared to itself in ways that other sports are not. Every four years, some of us fawn over Olympic hockey, a great event with bigger rinks, minimal foolishness and national pride in addition to the heightened skills of veritable all-star squads.

— George Vecsey

I know, I know - men have that extra hero gene in their foolish makeup; it's part of our charm. But I happen to know some women who have their inner sports hero, too.

— George Vecsey

I love hockey because of the respect for history and for the game itself.

— George Vecsey

In recent generations, women's sports have been a blessing. Some of us can remember the bad old days in the '50s, when we would discover in casual schoolyard play that a girl could outrun most of us or hold her own in basketball or hit a softball - but there were no teams, no coaches, for girls.

— George Vecsey

I will always treasure the privilege of writing the 'Sports of The Times' column.

— George Vecsey

I would never tell anybody to give up hockey - the great sports we have here - basketball, lacrosse - rugby coming into its own - we've got so many great team sports, and I say hold on to them.

— George Vecsey